Elite Dangerous

Hey there! Welcome to the Dreamcast version of Hidden and Dangerous. This guide is built around the DC version, though it might be pretty similar to the PC one – I'm not sure about any major differences, performance aside.

Think of Hidden and Dangerous as a cool squad shooter that blends action with strategy. What's awesome is how much control you get. You can meticulously pick out every single item for a mission, or if you're not into the nitty-gritty, the game can auto-set things up for you. Personally, I usually let the computer handle the initial setup and then tweak it a bit based on what a specific mission calls for.

The game's broken down into 6 Campaigns, and each one has between 1 and 6 Missions. You'll definitely get your time's worth out of this one. Now, while I really enjoy the game, there are a few hiccups. The performance can be a bit choppy, partly because it's running on the Windows OS. If there's even one explosion or a big firefight on a large map, things can slow to a crawl. Thankfully, these moments aren't too frequent. Remember, you're supposed to be Hidden and Dangerous, right? So, try to avoid those massive shootouts! For the most part, the game runs smoothly enough. The controls might feel a little awkward on the DC controller at first, but you'll get the hang of it. There's an option for a keyboard, but I usually stick with the gamepad. Minor gripes aside, you're in for a lot of tactical fun, even if you just rent it a few times.

A quick note about this guide: everything you read here is my personal take, especially the Mission Guides. There are tons of ways to tackle missions depending on your playstyle. I tend to go for the cleanest approach, so you'll see me using snipers a lot. Just remember, my way isn't the only way – it's just my way. But if you're stuck, maybe my methods will help you out. Honestly, I'm writing this to cut down on emails asking why I put a certain soldier here or there when you do it differently! I'm totally open to contributions, but if it's something minor like, 'I go northeast to the hill instead of southwest to the house!' then it might not be crucial info. However, if you've found a significantly easier way to beat a mission, definitely send it in, and I'll give it a shot.

Also, keep in mind this guide was written on the Medium difficulty. I just started with that as the default and didn't want to restart the whole game to play on Hard. I've played through the entire game about 5 or 6 times already, not counting the individual missions I've replayed to figure out little details. So, I feel like I have a pretty solid grasp of what can happen in any mission and how you might approach it.

Alright, enough preamble. Let's get to the fun part!

If your initial reaction to controlling your ship is that you might have just wasted 100 quid (bucks) on the premise you'll never last long enough to turn a profit thereby having a considerably poor gaming experience at the hands of greedy NPC pirates and just plain nasty ego deprived human players (more of which I'll explain later), never fear, your probably just used to up being down and down being up, i.e. inverted control systems.

The default control configuration for E:D is that when you push the mouse forward your ship will pitch back (nose up) and therefore your ship will roll forward (nose down) when you pull the mouse back. For many of us we are used to flying both terrestrial and cosmic vehicles with the axis inverted so when we pull back on the mouse our ship equally pitches back and therefore we fly 'up' and vice versa when you move your mouse forward (although technically in space there is no up or down).

If like me you don't know your Pitch from your Yaw here's a handy little diagram I dug out from Wikipedia:

Basic Controls:

• Analog Stick: Freelook (aim)
• DPad Up/Down: Change Stance (Stand, Kneel, Prone)
• DPad Left/Right: Change Camera View (3rd Person, 3rd Far, First Person)
• Y Button: Move Forward
• A Button: Move Backward
• B Button: Strafe Right
• X Button: Strafe Left
• R Trigger: Prepare/Fire Weapon
• L Trigger: Special (see advanced controls)
• START: Pause Menu

Advanced Controls:

• L Trigger + START: Run/Walk Mode
• L Trigger + Analog Stick: Fast Freelook
• L Trigger + DPad Left/Right: Toggle Between Soldiers
• L Trigger + DPad Up: Real Time Command Menu
• L Trigger + DPad Down: Show Remaining Objectives
• L Trigger + Y Button: Jump
• L Trigger + X Button: Clear Command
• L Trigger + A Button: Use (Inventory Item, interact with environment, etc.)
• L Trigger + B Button: Inventory (A Button to select item)
• L Trigger + R Trigger: Reload

Specific Item and Object Controls:

• L Trigger + Analog Stick Up: Sniper Rifle/Binoculars Zoom In (when in 1st Person)
• L Trigger + Analog Stick Down: Sniper Rifle/Binoculars Zoom Out (1st Person)
• DPad Up/Down: Explosive Timer Up or Down (after setting explosive)
• A Button: Drop Item (Hold 3 seconds)

Vehicle Controls:

• Analog Stick: Aim Vehicle's Main Weapon
• X Button: Turn Left (Driver/Gunner)
• B Button: Turn Right (Driver/Gunner)
• Y Button: Forward (Driver/Gunner)
• A Button: Backward (Driver/Gunner)
• R Trigger: Fire Main Weapon